Today is Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday! Hooray!! Here’s a little drawing in honor of the day:
Although I haven’t yet read very much of his work, Dickens definitely has a spot on my short-list of favorite writers. After reading The Pickwick Papers last year I couldn’t resist exploring three of the characters a little further, and although these fellows were featured in a blog post recently, I wanted to resurrect Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Tupman, and Mr. Winkle to help celebrate their creators’ birthday:
Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Tupman, Mr. Winkle
Dickens’ writing is sensitive and funny, helped to define the literary world in his time, and paved the road ahead for some of my other favorite authors of the 19th and 20th centuries. In celebration of his birthday, I plan on beginning Great Expectations tonight (and I shall refrain here from making any puns on what I expect of that novel based on the title).
Happy Birthday, Dickens! Thank you for creating such enjoyable books.
Just a quick little doodle to loosen up between assignments. The Boston area is absolutely glorious in the fall – there are so many wild colors out on the trees, it’s Autumn Glam. Right now the end of the season is near, and leaves are falling in clouds of color with every small breeze. Soon there will be a chill in the air and it will be time to break out the mittens!
P.S: bonus points to anyone who can tell from this post what series I’m reading right now.
Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Tupman, Mr. Winkle
Lately I have been engrossed in my first ever Dickens novel, The Pickwick Papers, and what a treat it is! Work and other interferences have made it a very long read for me, and most recently it has been set aside (at chapter 51 of 53 – almost there!) while I indulged in a little drawing of three of the characters.
It’s a very different novel than I had initially thought it would be, mostly because it is completely hilarious - Dara can attest to my frequent giggle fits while reading. At the time it was written Dickens intended this serial novel to be a satire of popular men’s clubs of the day, and it follows one such fictional group – The Pickwick Club – and the adventures of four of its (often bumbling) members. Here are Mr. Snodgrass, Mr. Tupman, and Mr. Winkle (who you should never take hunting with you! See above). Mr. Pickwick himself may show up in a future drawing, and maybe the delightful Sam Weller too, but first things first: time to finish the book!
Just a sketch I worked up – giving a little more life to a critter that was in a past illustration of mine this year. Can you spot him? He’s not far…
Maybe I’m just picky, but I’m very particular about what kind of paper I draw/paint/write on, and lately your run of the mill store-bought sketchbook just hasn’t been doing it for me. For the past few years whenever I’ve found myself at the end of a sketchbook I’ve gotten into the practice of buying a new one, ripping out the book block, and re-filling it with my own hand-stitched book block made of a nice, slightly heavier paper.
Is this a lot of work? Yes. But is it worth it? Definitely! I wind up with a lovely sketchbook that I know I will willingly open often, because it’s a pleasure to work with. The paper I use is Strathmore Windpower Drawing paper (sold in large orange spiral-bound pads), and it accepts a vast array of media nicely, from graphite to charcoal to watercolor to acrylics. An important side-effect to crafting my own sketchbook is that the hand-stitched book block lays open and flat, allowing me to work across the pages with ease. And as an extra bonus, I can add my own little flourishes to the construction of it, like a pretty satin bookmark and decorative endpapers.
Recently I also found Louise Stanley’s rules for keeping a sketchbook:
Uni: Never, ever tear out a page unless you sell it, in which case you can replace it with a copy.
Due: Start on the third page to get your courage up.
Tre: Go back to the first page and do a self portrait when you’ve got the nerve.
Quattro: Strap your journal to your body. Don’t leave home without it.
Cinque: A little gold leaf and color peps up a page.
Sei: Always carry a pencil. Many museums won’t let you use ink.
Stanley is a sketchbook artist, and although most of her rules are ones that I have always followed, she is the first one I have seen put them in writing. Rule number three is the only one that I haven’t ever done with regularity, but this time I’m starting my journal out right (and it’s easy to get up the nerve to tackle the first page of a sketchbook when you’ve just ripped apart and re-sewn the whole thing):
Happy sketching!
